Tag Archives: Jasper Folk Music Festival

Edmonton is a city spoiled for choice when it comes to folk music, and at times that means a finite audience gets divided up into quite small segments—I’m guessing that unintentional subdivision of the usual folkie crowd is what happened last night when the Chris Ronald Trio and Sam Spades shared the bill at the Northern Lights Folk Club playing to an intimate audience.

While outside the evening began with a brilliant sunset it turned into a cool, damp October night, the same sort of startling contrast took place inside the hall. The evening began with Chris Ronald who has the ability (likely honed from time as both a busker and a schoolteacher) to hold attention whether he be telling you about touring via Via, or defining halcyon. Mike Sanyshyn and John Ellis joined Ronald on stage, and with dramatic melodic fiddle flourishes (Sanyshyn) and guitar/mandolin/banjo/vocal harmonies (Ellis) aided an already skilled storyteller in sharing tales. Ronald’s songs take inspiration from everything between (and including) a photograph of his brothers, busking, finding a lost wedding ring (8 years later in the back of a basement storage space), and even the heart-attack of a championship curler. The trio had the audience singing and clapping, and relaxing into the intricate sounds of Ronald’s latest album Fragments.

Sam Heine of Sam Spades

An intermission, set change-over and few minutes later the local Sam Spades—John Richards (bass), Greg Hann (drums), Trevor B McNeely (lead guitar), and Sam Heine (guitar & lead vocals)—took the stage with their brand of blues-soaked rock’n’roll noir. From the first chord, the difference was apparent, we were in for heartbreak accompanied by epic swathes of pedal steel and blisteringly fast (yet somehow twangy too) passages from the upright bass. The Sam Spades set felt like it would be at home in a dusty western bar (probably only found in my imagination) where the floorboards creak from age and, the scent of beer and whisky seem to permanently infuse the air.

The effect of the two sets was entirely different, providing both a cool contrast and demonstrating the fantastic range of styles found in folk music. This is just the starting leg of Ronald’s tour as he heads East to Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, if you can be sure to try to catch a show. Sam Spades plays frequently throughout the Edmonton area, including an upcoming (November) set of dates at Blues on Whyte, and Northern Lights is back with Hillsburn (whom we saw at the 2016 Jasper Folk Fest and thought were awesome) on October 21st.

Completing a triptych of Saskatoon performers Rosie & the Riveters captivated the Saturday audience of the 2016 Jasper Folk Fest while a full rainbow emerged from the grey gloom and hung over the valley. The upbeat tunes and tight harmonies of the vintage-folk inspired quartet stayed with me all weekend, and on returning to Edmonton I was delighted to get in touch with Allyson Reigh of Rosie & the Riveters to ask her some questions about female empowerment, social change, education and the Riveters’ home province.

During your live show in Jasper a story about the inspiring vitality of one of the Riveters grandmother’s was shared, and on your band blog there are mentions of other inspiring women. It seems obvious that you feel that it is important to model this empowerment of women, how is being an all female musical group important in your goal to share music about the empowerment of women?

Rosie & the Riveters was formed back in 2011 when Farideh Olsen had the idea to get a group of female singer-songwriters together who were interested in collaborating and building something unique and different. We initially came together to support one another and hone our craft and things sort of just grew from there.

On one hand, it works really well that our band is made up of all women and as a group we’re very vocal about the importance of women supporting women. We know lots of men who would be great additions to the band – in fact we did a big CD release tour last fall and brought three men from Saskatoon as our backup band – but arranging more than four individual schedules is tough so we’re sticking with just the four of us for now!

What do you hope to communicate to your listeners by portraying women in this way through your music?

One of our biggest goals in putting ourselves out there is to show that women can and do work well together. All you have to do is turn on the TV or read a magazine and see how common it is to criticize and tear people down, particularly women, rather than build them up. We’d love for people to see our band perform or hear our music and know that there is genuine love and respect for one another; that it’s possible to admire and be happy for another woman’s success without questioning your own value or talent.

We take turns singing lead while the other three sing back up and we’re having a helluva time doing it!Twenty percent of your merchandise sales go toward supporting women’s projects at www.kiva.org. Where did this idea come from?

We wanted to use what we’ve been given and help other women around the world, particularly those working in the arts. A lot of research has shown that investing in local female entrepreneurs can have the greatest social and economic impact because women play so many different roles in their communities. Essentially, the empowerment of women has the ability to support entire communities in the long run.

We take turns choosing which projects to support. Generally speaking, they’re usually arts or textile-based businesses.

Have you seen first hand your support of Kiva makes a difference in women’s lives?

Kiva posts updates on projects fairly regularly, so in that sense we can all keep updated on projects we’ve lent to. I spent six months living in rural Ecuador a couple years ago in a community that has benefited from investment through Kiva. So I’ve seen some of the direct benefits of microfinance loan initiatives firsthand, also within the arts and textile sectors.

Education through music is another element that permeates Rosie & the Riveters online presence. What kind of music education experiences as young musicians did you have?

Between the four of us we’ve got all kinds of musical experience. Two musical degrees, countless years of picking up instruments in our homes and teaching ourselves, a musical parent who still tours and performs in different groups, semi-professional choir experience, classical vocal training, musical theatre training, years of jamming with other musician friends, and probably a million campfires where someone passes around a guitar and everybody learns the tune. We’ve got a pretty eclectic background but we all just genuinely love music.

As for education through music, we’re all big fans of songwriters with something to say. I definitely believe that art and activism go hand in hand and Buffy Sainte-Marie and Joni Mitchell are two of my personal favourite artist-activists who both just happen to be from the prairies!

Have you modelled your own teaching after any particular instructor/mentor? If so, how?

We like to say we take our inspiration from a lot of places – the sweetness of The Good Lovelies, the soul of Mahalia Jackson, and the vintage touch of The Andrews Sisters – combine all that with our very own sass and charm and voilà! You’ve got Rosie & the Riveters.Music is often about universals. Song lyrics will typically speak about love, heartbreak, family and place. Rosie & the Riveters songs seem to focus on the positive as the universal, and not necessarily the scenario or situation of the song. Has this always been a conscious choice?

We choose to focus most of our energy and song writing on positive things in general. It’s so easy to feel sad for all the horrible things going on in the world, including our own backyard. The Husky Energy oil spill that polluted our beautiful North Saskatchewan River this summer was heartbreaking and incredibly maddening all at the same time. We do sing songs about the environment (covers and original music), and we have a song or two about ex-boyfriends, but in general we want people to come to our shows, forget their troubles, and leave feeling happier than when they walked in.Does the Rosie & the Riveter approach to song writing differ from your solo music projects?

The overall goal with our solo projects and Rosie & the Riveters is to create meaningful art that impacts the listener in some way. So in that sense, writing and performing solo or as Rosie & the Riveters is very similar.

Rosie & the Riveters proudly hail from Saskatoon – what is your favourite thing about Saskatchewan and what place should we check out the next time we are in the land of the living skies?

One of the things I love most about Saskatchewan, other than the gorgeous sky, is that it feels like a hidden gem that hasn’t ever been really been properly appreciated, which means it’s not flooded with tourists. Whether you’re here in summer or winter you’re never far from an outdoor adventure – kayaking, camping, paddle boarding, skiing, snowshoeing – the list is endless!

Rosie & the Riveters have shows lined up through 2017, check out their tour dates here!

The 2016 Jasper Folk Music Festival was the chillest folk fest I have ever been to. Unlike the Edmonton and Winnipeg folk fests where a chimerical community of folkies rise up out of the mosquito spray haze and find one another for a few days during the year, you don’t necessarily know your festival friends in “real life”, in Jasper everyone seemed to know one another. Jasper’s festival was a celebration of a year-round community of musicians and music lovers, making it unique as it wasn’t the imaginary city of the larger prairie folk fests. Although the weather was a bit rainy, and a tiny bit on the cold side (I was wearing enough wool that I could have been mistaken for a sheep and ALL of my Welsh rain gear) nothing seemed to dampen the Jasperite’s need to dance and sing. All and all it was a fantastic time, and I’m already rounding up friends for a return roadtrip next year.

Highlights from the weekend include:

Awesome MCs: I’ve never been at a folk fest where the MCs both sang – “Colors of the Wind” (Disney) and “For he is an Englishman” (Gilbert & Sullivan) – for the crowd. Both MCs were fantastic at keeping the audience informed of what was happening and providing a little bit of entertainment between sets. It’s a typically thankless job, so let me say a big thank you!

Local Talent: The number of Jasper musicians (or previous Jasperites) was great. The festival really supported the local acts, giving them a venue to showcase their awesome talents.

Sound Guys: Jasper had some of the best mixed live music at a folk fest that I’ve heard. It is something you notice when it is bad, but not necessarily when it is great – again, a huge thank you is deserved.

Roving Packs of Children: Jasper kids know how to party and were always at the hoola-hoops, jamming with Kiki the Eco Elf’s musical instruments, or dancing their hearts out. It seemed like it would be a great event to bring a family to.

Atmosphere: Can I state one more time how relaxed the festival was? Stress – what stress?

Fun fact: Folk on the Road is headed to the Jasper Folk Music Festival tomorrow, well to be 100% correct I should say half of Folk on the Road is headed to the mountains (Sable has to stay in the city). The weekend promises to be an amazing time “where music and mountains meet” and boasts a pretty awesome line-up.

Personally I’m eager to see Delhi 2 Dublin who in my experience are always a good bet when it comes to fantastic dancing times. I am also excited to hear Saskatoon’s Rosie & the Riveters who I only know from extensive CBC Radio listening, but am looking forward to seeing in person.

A group that I hadn’t heard of before perusing the schedule but through the wonders of the internet am now rocking out to is The Brevet, who are scheduled to play just before Scenic Route to Alaska (also ranking high on the list of exciting performers at JFMF 2016). I’m sure there will be more musical discoveries in the next few days, and can hardly wait to get on the road to Jasper … I just need to make a few playlists before then.